The Black Rose
by shadowdoom10
Summary: This is a story about heartbreak, vengeance and retribution. Ruby Rose has lost one of the few things she holds dear to her, and she will do whatever it takes to get her revenge on those who took it from her. After the death of a friend, Ruby loses herself and becomes a mercenary in Vale. OC warning for later in the story. Rated T for safety, might change later. Non-Canon.
1. The Loss of Love

A/N _This is a story I thought of after looking at all the stories that kill off Ruby and leave her friends, mainly Weiss and Yang, to deal with it, usually involving some kind of vengeance. So I thought, what about if one of Ruby's friends died, and Ruby was left to deal and wanted vengeance. So I decided to write this story. I will update this story and Shattered Bonds less frequently during the school year so I can do work, and as I think of things to add to either, so updates may be erratic. One last thing, this take place three months before the finals of Beacon, and teams RWBY and JNPR are all fourth year students so this is their last year at Beacon. I hope you like it, and as always, leave a review and I'll read it. Onwards to the story!_

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_Weiss_

"Come on, Weiss, we have to go!" Ruby was practically shouted at her partner while jumping around. "Okay, I'm coming just a moment-" "But we have to go now! There are reports of huge packs of Beowolves, and we can use them to practice our partner combat skills for finals." She said excitedly, not noticing her partner was trying to say something until- "**Ruby Calm Down!** Yes, I know finals are coming up and that we could use the practice for partner combat, and I know your excited, but I'm not even dressed yet and it would be appreciated if you got off my bed." Ruby jumped down, looking sheepish. "Sorry." said Ruby, the beginnings of a pout on her lips. "It's fine, go on ahead, I'll be done in a few minutes." As she said that, she gathered up her clothes off the bed and smiled slightly as Ruby disappeared, leaving a cloud of petals that Weiss brushed since she and Ruby officially became a couple last year, both of them have been doing better in classes and as a pair in general. After getting her clothes on, she walked out into the hallway and headed to the cafeteria, both because she was hungry and because Ruby would probably be there as well. Looking around when she arrived, she noticed team JNPR sitting with Yang and Cardin, who had become much nicer since Juane saved him in freshmen year, but she didn't see Ruby, which worried her slightly. Walking over, Ren looked up and smiled at her, motioning for her to sit down. "Have any of you seen Ruby today?" Asked the heiress. "No clue, maybe she went outside." Was the general response from the others. After getting something to eat, Weiss got up and headed outside, looking for her partner.

Seeing her partner sitting near the fountain soon after she got outside, Weiss ran up to her. "Ruby, I was looking all over for you. I was starting to get worried that you left without me." The heiress said, looking very relived. "Oh, sorry, I had gotten a message on my scroll." Seeing the questioning look on the others face, she quickly continued. "Don't worry, it was just a congratulations from Qrow for getting an 'A' on that last test. It's nothing to worry about, the cafeteria was just too crowded for that kind of thing." She smiled. "So lets get going, shall we?" Asked Ruby as she saw other students head off towards Forever Fall. "Yeah, of course. Did you remember to tell Yang where we're going? I don't want her getting Ozpin to sent teams out like last time." Asked Weiss. Both shivered slightly, remembering when Yang was so worried about Ruby that she convinced Ozpin to send out _Bullheads_ to find them. "Of course I did, do you think I would... I'll be right back." Said the hooded girl before disappearing in cloud of rose petals for the second time in less then an hour. Weiss looked up at the sky, smiling again. _She always forgets something. Well at least she remembered before we left._After a few minutes,she heard a slight movement behind her. "Ruby, you know I can hear you. And I know how long it takes for you to get to the dorm and back." "Drat. I thought I had you that time, I even waited a minute before I ran back." She smiled. "Come on, let's go." Ruby started walking towards the launch pads near Forever Fall, with Weiss a short way behind.

* * *

_Ruby_

As they reached the pads, she noticed that some of them were already triggered. Looking back towards Weiss she said, "Looks like some of the others are already out there. We might have to hunt for our targets." Weiss nodded in acknowledgement. "We should get going." Just as they were about to launch, they saw Cardin walking nearby, looking like he was lost. "Cardin, what are you doing?" called Ruby. Cardin looked at them quickly. "Oh, sorry. I was just taking a walk, you know, admiring the view of the forest." he replied, looking down in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, well, have a good day then." Ruby continued in her usual optimism, causing Cardin to look up again, this time he was smiling. "You too, and good luck out there." he said, as they prepared to get launched of the cliff. Ruby looked at Weiss one more time, before both of them left the ground and flew.

Yelling with joy, Ruby laughed as she looked over Forever Fall forest, loving the beauty of it all. In her peripheral vision, Ruby saw her partner making platforms to slow her landing. Seeing about where her partner would touch down, she drew her weapon and started to angle herself in the same direction, cutting down any trees in her path. Afterthe two landed a small break in the trees, they began to walk. "Do you think there are any of the larger Grimm in the forest?" Asked Ruby, looking around. "Not really, there might be some, but I doubt that there are many. Not after all the tests this year. I expect that there will mostly be Beowolves, and maybe the largest thing we'll fight is an Ursa or two." Replied the heiress, also watching their surroundings. "Oh, thats two bad, how will we be able to test our skills if all we have to fight is an Ursa?" Complained the crimson haired girl, pouting. "Don't worry, I'm sure that something will appear soon," started the girl, before the sound of a large being interrupted her. A very large King Taijitu burst from the trees on the right, causing Weiss to have to jump out of the way. "See, I told you." She smiled as the beast looked at them, its red eyes filled with unbridled hatred.

_And why not,_ thought Ruby as the Taijitu prepared to attack_, we entered its territory, and to it we are nothing more then gnats. Too bad these gnats have one hell of a bite._ Then, it lunged. Both girls were able to dodge out of the way of the powerful jaws. Weiss, after jumping back to avoid the attack, used a glyph to dash forward with Myrtenaster and tried to stab one of the eyes. As she neared her target, the black head suddenly moved back and the and the white head was thrown forward, and would have hit her had Ruby not shot, and hit the attacking head in the side knocking it to the side. Weiss was able to move out of the Grimm's ark of attack, and so while Ruby was distracting it, Weiss saw how it was using both heads to dodge the oncoming attacks. Thinking fast, she changed the dust capsule to light blue, placed a glyph behind her, and dashed forward before slamming the tip of the sword to the ground in front of the Taijitu. "Ruby move!" shouted Weiss. Ruby, looking towards her partner, saw what she was doing, made one more slash at the Grimm and then jumped back, right as the ice from Myrtenaster reached the point where the two snakes join and froze them in place. "Now!" shouted Weiss dashing forward, as Ruby started to fire at the Grimm, hitting it in the eye, mouth and nose, before slicing the black head clean off. At the same time, Weiss shot forward like a round from Crescent Rose to and stabbed the left eye of the white head, and freeze it in a solid block of ice. As both girls moved back, the black head fell with an audible _thud_ and the white head shattered when it hit the ground, dead. The two huntresses looked at the Taijitu, happy that their partner combat skills were not rusty. After taking a small break, to rest and eat, they continued on.

After about three hours and a few battles against Beowolves and some Ursi, the pair were preparing to head back to Beacon, when Ruby saw a large fireball above the trees. "Weiss, I think someone is in trouble, that was a pretty large fireball. We should see what happened." Ruby said, looking worried. "I agree, but we should be careful, it could be a trap of some kind." replied Weiss. After contacting the headmaster and telling him what they saw, they proceeded to the place where Ruby saw the fireball. Ruby dashed though the trees, jumping from branch to branch with incredible speed, with Weiss nearby jumping from glyph to glyph in the air until they reached the spot. What they saw surprised them.

They saw Cinder Fall in the middle of an unnatural clearing, hand outstretched and pointing at a Death Stalker. Twelve goons stood nearby with firearms out, looking at the forest in case more Grimm appeared. Ruby took out her scroll and contacted Ozpin. "Yes yes, what is it?" asked the headmaster. "Cinder's in Forever Fall, near us." the slightly drowsy state the headmaster was in quickly disappeared at the mention of Cinder, the two heard muffled shouting before he returned. "Okay, we have a Bullhead being prepared, you two need to leave, now. Repeat, do not engage Cinder." Ozpin said, in a tone that held no room for debate. Unfortunately, Cinder had other ideas. Just as Ruby was closing up the scroll, Cinder shot a fireball at them. Thankfully, Ruby and Weiss were able to avoid the blast, and they prepared to attack the foe. "Well, look what we have here. Two little girls, thinking they can be hero's. How _cute_." the last word came out as if it were the most horrid thing in the world. "Kill them both." ordered the pyromancer. The goons around her aimed their guns at the two, and fired. Ruby, being the speed demon she is, was able to dash forward to the first thug, and take him dawn before he fired his weapon. Weiss, who was not as fast, brought up a glyph to block most of the bullets. Cinder watched the fight with mild interest.

The men she hired didn't last two minutes against the pair, Cinder cursed under her breath. "So Torchwick was right, they were no good in a fight. Hmph, oh well, I guess I have to do it." Cinder laughed. "So, the trainees have some fight in them, thats good. I can't wait to beat it out of you." she laughed again as pillars of fire burst out of the ground, mostly around Ruby, who was only just able to avoid being burned. As she was focusing on Ruby, Weiss was able to dash forward to engage Cinder, only to be blasted back by a wave of heat from Cinder. Ruby, seeing her partner wounded and hurt, screamed. Seeming to teleport, she appeared in front of her love and stop the next attack from hitting her, but the same attack also shattered Crescent Rose into peaces. Ruby was flung back and fell next to the carcass of the Death Stalker. As she blacked out, Ruby saw the shape of Weiss Schnee fly towards a vary angry Cinder that looked ready to burn the world, and a Bullhead hover overhead and open the bay doors. She tried to shout a warning to Weiss, but her voice was hoarse, and then she saw nothing but blackness.

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A/N_Ok, talking time. As I said above, this is going to be about Ruby losing a friend, a teammate, and having to live with the consequences. I have multiple paths that this could go, but I haven't decided which one I'll go for. Also, I'm really sorry if I did a bad job at portraying White Rose, but I was going for the fact that Ruby and Weiss would not be trying to flirt in combat, if you hated it please tell me. I hope you enjoyed it. I will update this and Shattered Bonds as much as possible. Bye!_


	2. A Rose's Thorn

A/N Okay_, this is where it starts to move towards darker places. So, as much as I want Ruby to stay pure, I can't. Please don't hate me for my portrayal of everyone, I figured that two or three years after the current episode, which was S2 EP5 for those wondering, she would have more friends. This chapter won't have too much combat, if any, this will mostly be set up for later chapters. After this, I won't leave Authors notes unless I feel like I really need to, and they won't be too long either. I hope you like the story. Also, I learned that one of the RubyxBlake ships is called blackrose, I will not be shipping them together. Sorry to anyone who thought that I was. Please leave a review if you liked it or hated it._

* * *

Yang looked at Ruby, twisting and turning on a hospital bed. Blake was asleep on a chair nearby, with team JNPR and even Cardin and Velvet were there in the small, Sun and Neptune were on a mission, but sent their regards and hopes for recovery. All of them were worried for Ruby. And all of them thinking of ways to punish the one who did this. Yang looked around the room, with more room since Ozpin and Professor Port had checked in a few minutes ago, but left to continue the hunt for the one responsible for this, Cinder Fall.

Seeing how many people were here, and knowing it was a fraction of those who wanted to be here blew her mind. It was amazing how many lives Ruby has touched, most of them for the better. Juane has become one of the best tacticians in Beacon, rivaled only by the headmaster himself, and in the top of the class for the year because Ruby had pushed him to be better during their first year. Ren and Nora had gotten together not long after their second year, and Ruby supported them through the whole thing. Pyrrha was always one of the top fighters in Beacon, but is now one of the most compassionate as well, due to combat sessions with Ruby, who was never a sore loser. Cardin had stopped his bullying after the incident with Juane and the Ursa, but Ruby was one of the few people to believe he had reformed, and because of it, he became friends with teams RWBY and JNPR. Ruby always helped Velvet in classes, no matter what, and because of that, she stayed in Beacon, and even though the bullying didn't stop, Cardin and Ruby helped her deal with it. Yang always had anger problems, but Ruby helped her calm down. Weiss, the ice queen, thawed around Ruby, and they fell in love last year. Even Blake, the shadow, was affected. Because of Ruby, she had assurance that she made the right decision when she left the White Fang, and that Beacon and beyond can have a place for someone like her.

Movement Yang's eye and, looking to the left, she saw Ruby get up with a groan. "Hey Yang, what's going on?" Even though the room held nine people, that question proceeded dead silence, but it didn't last long, as soon enough everyone was asking questions.

"Ruby! How are you?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Do you need anything?" The noise was drowning out Ruby's voice, and she looked confused about what was happening.

"Everybody, QUITE!" Shouted Ozpin, who was in the door way, his expression somewhere between cross and relived. "I think miss Rose will have some questions of her own, so let me answer some of the obvious ones now. First, you were in a coma for two days, and we weren't sure you would wake up, that's why everyone's here. Second, your injuries include three broken ribs, your right hand was fractured, your left foot was also broken, you have second degree burns across most of your lower back, and had a minor concussion, that's why your in the hospital in the first place. Third, your weapon, Crescent Rose, was destroyed beyond all repair, and so you'll have leave from class tomorrow to build a new weapon of your choice in the forge." Finished the headmaster.

"Wait, what about Weiss, is she okay?" Asked Ruby, looking around for her partner.

Ozpin suddenly looked crestfallen, and everyone in the room tried to look anywhere but at Ruby. "I'm sorry Ruby, but Weiss... didn't survive." Replied Ozpin, who suddenly sounded ten years older. Ruby looked like she was going to kill someone, then fell back, head in her hands, and whispered something over and over. Blake, who had woken up when Ozpin yelled, moved closer, and was shocked by what she heard. "She didn't see the Bullhead, she thought we were alone, I tried to warn her." Said an emotionally broken Ruby. Blake recoiled in shock.

"Ruby, don't you dare think like that. It wasn't your fault, it was Cinder's. You couldn't have known what was going to happen." She scolded.

"But it was! I was the one who thought we should see what happened at the explosion. I was the one who wanted to go to the forest. I was the one who wanted to keep going, even though our Aura was low. I was the one who attacked Cinder first. **I was her leader, her partner.** I tried to tell her, but she didn't hear, if I was stronger, she would have heard. If only I-" Ruby's words were spilling out from her mouth as soon as she thought them.

"Shut up." Interrupted Cardin. Everyone looked at him, shocked at his outburst, even Ozpin. "It was _**NOT**_ your fault. You did everything you could have and more. You are one of the best fighters in this school, and that's saying allot. I heard what happened, and if you show me someone who could have done better, I'll eat my mace whole." Cardin looked at Ruby, his eyes harder than the bedrock that made up Beacon. "We know that Cinder is the one responsible for her death, and Ozpin has sent teams all over Remnant to find her. She won't escape. Not this time." Cardin smiled a smile that was not seen at Beacon for quite some time, a smile that said 'someone is going to get very hurt soon, and it won't be me'.

After Cardin finished his speech, Yang jumped up and continued. "Yeah! Cinder won't escape, we'll get her and make her pay for what she's done." Ruby looked at Yang with something like sadness, though nobody in the room saw it. A knock on the door alerted everyone, and a doctor came in. "It looks like miss Rose is fine to go, but I think it would be best for her to stay the night here, if thats okay with her, that is." Ruby nodded in agreement. "Good, because she's awake. It would be best for all of you to leave until tomorrow, so she can get some sleep." After much grumbling, a few threats, and a shouting match between Yang and Juane, everyone was filled out of the room with promises that they would return tomorrow.

* * *

That night, Ruby was awake, thinking about what Yang had said _"We'll get her this time"_. To Ruby, that meant that Yang would stop her from getting revenge, and that was unacceptable. She replayed the few minutes of the battle over and over, picking over them like a crow to figure out what she did wrong, on how to be better. After three hours of this, she started to think about how to get revenge, revenge on Cinder, revenge on Torchwick, revenge on anyone who knew about the attack and didn't stop it. The problem was weapons, she was thinking of a sword, to honor Weiss, but she needed someone else to teach her to use it. Almost losing hope, she remembered a conversation with Blake last year.

_Ruby walked into the dorm to find Blake sitting on her bed, drawing in a notebook, looking over her shoulder she asked, "Who's that?" Blake jumped at the sound of a new voice in the previously empty dorm. "Wha-oh, that's Adam. He was my partner in the White Fang." Blake replied, looking sheepish._

"_Well, can you tell me about him?" Asked the always inquisitive younger girl. Blake looked at the picture again, thinking. _

"_Sure, it shouldn't do too much harm. Firstly, he's a bull faunus, so he has all the strengths that that entails. Second, when I knew him he hated humans with a passion, he was one of the zealots for the White Fang, but he might have changed now. He was an excellent swordsman, he could cut you down before you knew he had moved, and he taught me all I know about fighting. He was also a very cold person, he didn't care about what happened to the people he hurt, that's one of the main reasons I left. He was very focused on the goal of faunus rights, and I think he honestly thought he was doing the right thing. His weapons were called _Wilt_ and _Blush_, they were a sword and gun combo, with the gun being the sheath for the sword, which was a katana, the blade was a deep red, like blood. He was also loyal, he would never leave a man behind in a mission unless there was absolutely no other choice, and even then he would try at least once. Thats all I can remember off the top of my head."_

"_Cool, is he alive?" Asked Ruby. "To be honest with you, I don't know. After I left the White Fang I never thought to find out. I was too scared that he would try to bring me back."_

"_Don't worry, I won't let that happen." Ruby said, never wavering in her conviction. "Thanks Ruby."_

Ruby smiled, since she now had a plan. So, as she sometimes does, Ruby fell asleep thinking of Weiss, and weapon blueprints, but this time, it was Weiss's death, and the weapon was to be the tool of her vengeance.

The next day, Ruby woke up earlier than normal, the sun hadn't even peaked over the horizon, and the room she was in was still dark. After looking around for an embarrassing amount of time for the door, she walked out into the hall towards the forge. The size of the halls made her boots sound like something akin to thunder, and her breathing a downpour of rain. As she quickened her pace, she ended up almost sprinting to the weapons forge, there were two. One was mainly for minor repairs, such as dulling or replacing small parts. The other was for larger things, a cracked blade or, in her case near complete rebuilding. Seeing that the door was slightly open, she knocked first to alert whomever was in there that she was coming in. When no one answered, she walked in to see the forge empty. Smiling, she walked over to the casting plates, and began to forge her new weapon, a sword. Because every Rose needs a Thorn.

After hours of work, and the consultation of many books, she finally finished her creation. What she had made was a sword, a long sword to be exact. The whole thing was about half as long as Crescent Rose. The blade was mostly black, with a red tint on the edge, and a streak of white in the middle going a few inches from the top to a hands width from the hilt. The blade was also slightly rounder than a normal sword of it's kind, and there were two slots for up to six Dust crystals to be placed inside the blade, the crystals can also be launched from the blade. In the hilt of the sword, which was in the shape of a rose, is a place to put a vial of Dust. Hopefully, when Aura is channelled through the hilt, the Dust will activate and the blade will have aspects of the Dust used, but she would need to test it later. '_This blade will be called the White Rose, and with it my vengeance will be wrought.'_ Smiling lightly, she collapsed the blade, and began the trek to her dorm, to collect some things before she left. If anyone had seen her, they would have seen eyes harder than steel.

* * *

A/N_ That's it for this chapter, the next few chapters will focus on Yang more, and how she's dealing with what's happening. Thanks for all the support, I hope you liked it. Bye._


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